The call came into the Big Ten office Saturday night. Penn State had just lost to Illinois and ESPN had changed their mind. Instead of heading to Columbus, they wanted to go where the rest of the college football world was going to be in one week: East Lansing.
After getting the call from ESPN, the Big Ten picked up the phone and called Michigan State University to begin the process of getting College GameDay on campus alongside FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show, which had already announced they were coming. When the B1G phone call rang into the 517, it was Paul Schager who answered and – as he’s done many, many times over the last 24 years he’s been running things at MSU – he sprang into action.